Surrendered Maoist leader planned attack on Naidu convoy

A top rebel leader and secretary of the state committee of CPI(Maoist),who surrendered on Sunday,had planned the October 2003 landmine blast to kill then chief minister Chandrababu Naidu,the police said.

A top rebel leader and secretary of the state committee of CPI(Maoist),who surrendered on Sunday,had planned the October 2003 landmine blast to kill then chief minister Chandrababu Naidu,the police said.

Konakuri Ilaiah alias Sambasivudu has 80 cases against him and carries a reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head.

The Maoist leader chose to give up arms owing to poor health and lack of money for treatment,the police said.

Sambasivudu is also said to have planned the ambush on Greyhounds in Balimela reservoir bordering Orissa in June 2008 in which 38 commandos were killed. He is also the main accused in the murder of Congress MLA Narsi Reddy in 2005 and wanted in at least a dozen attacks on police stations and police officers.

Home Minister K Jana Reddy on Monday confirmed that the CPI-Maoist secretary had surrendered.

Special Investigation Bureau officers,however,weren’t very enthusiastic over the surrender. For,in recent years Sambasivudu wasn’t much involved in planning and executing Maoist operations,they said.

Sambasivudu’s accomplice G Ravi also surrendered before the police along with him.

SIB officials also said the Maoist leader was not on good terms with his colleagues in the CPI(M) for the past several years and the differences had intensified recently.

Sambasivudu started off as an area leader in Alair in Nalgonda district in 1993 and rose in the ranks quite fast.

Hailing from Nalgonda district in Telangana,he became the topmost leader of the extremist organisation in 2006 following the killing of their leader,Madhav,in an alleged police encounter.

Sambasivudu has held several posts like dalam leader,commander,Mahabubnagar district committee secretary and north Telangana division secretary before becoming state secretary.

“He,however,went underground some time in 1996 and wasn’t seen thereafter. Investigations into the 2003 landmine blast in Alipiri near Tirupati when the convoy of Chandrababu Naidu was passing by threw up his name. He is also allegedly involved in the Balimela reservoir massacre of Greyhounds,” a police officer said.

“Sambasivudu’s whereabouts have been a mystery for the past several years. Though many top Maoist have been nabbed,killed in encounters or have surrendered,he managed to remain underground,” the officer said.